Crowdfunding a Software Project

In a field where everyone is trying to get money for their latest idea, it can be difficult — if not impossible — to secure outside funding for your project. In the past, your options for getting large sums of cash were primarily venture capital funds or angel investors. Today, though, crowdfunding has become a practical alternative for entrepreneurs who need funds but don’t want to sacrifice equity or go through the grueling process of being grilled by investors.

What Is Crowdfunding (in a Nutshell)

For those unfamiliar with crowdfunding campaigns, crowdfunding is a new way for entrepreneurs to raise capital by tapping the masses rather than a small pool of investors. You might have heard of a few, like Kickstarter or Pozible.

Crowdfunding works by allowing virtually anyone to make relatively small contributions to a project in exchange for tangible goods, rather than having a small pool of investors risk large chunks of funds. Donation amounts vary from campaign to campaign but they typically range from $1 up to $10,000.

Who is Crowdfunding Best Suited For?

Crowdfunding sites originally gained notoriety in the creative and artist communities because they allowed artists to successfully raise funds even though most traditional investors wouldn’t touch their work. Crowdfunding proved to be highly successful for these groups because the rewards are practical: by offering CDs, copies of paintings and other tangible goods, the system became a way to pre-order a variety of innovative products. As crowdfunding became more popular, digital downloads emerged as a popular reward option.

Is it Applicable to Software?

As a software development professional, you’re probably asking yourself if crowdfunding can help you raise funds for your software project. While the majority of crowdfunding projects revolve around creative endeavors and tangible goods, The Next Web mentioned two software campaigns which made their top crowdfunding campaigns list for 2013.

Ghost is designed as a platform devoted to publishing. By pitching itself as a simple alternative to WordPress and other content management systems, the creators of Ghost were able to raise £196,362 from a £25,000 goal.

Macaw raised $275,000 from a $75,000 goal. Macaw gained notoriety by providing designers with a tool which allows designers to write code straight from the design view.

So, yes, software projects can be successfully crowdfunded, provided there is a solid strategy behind the project.

Hold Up, Not So Fast

Before you go out and put your project idea up on a major crowdfunding site, it’s crucial to note a few key facts. According to Kickstarter’s published statistics, there were 60,025 successful campaigns in 2013, while 77,692 campaigns (more than half!) failed to meet their goal.

Breaking those numbers down further, the bulk of successful Kickstarter campaigns raised $1,000 to $9,999. If you were thinking crowdfunding instantly leads to riches, well, that isn’t quite the case. Just like any other business endeavor, running a successful crowdfunding campaign requires significant amounts of time and effort which can span months, if not years.

Tips for a Successful Campaign

Even if you have a proven track of marketing your own software, crowdfunding can be a whole different kettle of fish. The most notable challenge is that crowdfunding requires you to raise a significant sum of cash in a very limited amount of time — usually 30 days, though campaigns on some platforms can span a few months. Fortunately you can improve your odds of success by following a few simple tips:

Tell a story: since crowdfunding involves selling directly to your customers, you want to connect with them. This helps to improve trust, therefore improving contribution amounts. The best way to tell a story is through a video of the project founders along with a demo reel of the software in use.

Have something to demo: although software is intangible, you can help to build credibility with potential contributors by showcasing your prototype. Even if it isn’t perfect, you can still show that your dream is realistic, that you have a vision, and that you aren’t producing vaporware. If you don’t have a prototype built, showcasing prior works is another way to help build confidence in your abilities.

Communication is crucial: always remain active with your backers even after your campaign is over. Aside from providing you with valuable insights for future products, you’ll also be forming a loyal supporter base which can be tapped during future campaigns.

Equity Based Platforms: Avoid at All Costs

Unlike traditional venture capital funds which involve trading stock for cash, crowdfunding primarily revolves around rewards. This means that by law, a company can only give a product or service in exchange for money. Stock cannot change hands on most platforms due to anti-fraud legislation.

Despite the JOBS act passing two years ago, there are a few reasons why you should avoid equity crowdfunding at all costs for the moment:

Legal and accounting costs can cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the amount of money you are trying to raise.

All funds for equity crowdfunding campaigns must be kept in escrow. If the goal isn’t reached the funds must be returned to the investors and the company still must pay all escrow fees.

When issuing stock to the public, you have to foot the bill for ongoing compliance costs which can cost tens of thousands per year. These costs are recurring until your company dissolves or all the shares are bought back by the company

After launching your equity crowdfunding campaign, there are significant restrictions on what you and your employees can say to promote your business, especially on social media. Failing to comply with these regulations can lead to significant civil and criminal penalties.

With all this in mind, it’s usually better to offer traditional rewards to your campaign contributors, rather than diving into equity.

The Sky is the Limit

The most important thing to remember before diving into crowdfunding is that you need to build a connection with your customer. Crowdfunding is a way for consumers to put their faith into projects which are typically far from being produced. Unless the consumer trusts you, they are not going to part ways with their money.

Have you run a crowdfunding campaign before? Would you use it to fund a software project? Are you currently running a crowdfunding campaign? Let me know in the comments!

Charles Costa is a content strategist and product marketer based out of Silicon Valley. Feel free to learn more at CharlesCosta.net.

http://www.webmaisterpro.com/ Kaloyan Banev

Crowdfunding for software, mobile and IT projects is a tough call. Maily due to fact that softare and IT is pushed well behind other offline or tech projects.
I recently announce new crowdfunding platform tha this dedicated to web, mobile app and softare projects on my social network.

http://hightechrealm.com Charles Costa

Hello Kaloyan,

Thanks for the feedback on the post. I also agree that when it comes to crowdfunding, software probably isn’t the best use case – mainly because I just believe code should be bootstraped because it’s intangible – however if crowdfunding is used to build up funds to launch the service (i.e. pre-selling licenses for a SaaS product) I think that it serves a valid purpose.

Ultimately it’s a question of execution and whether the entrepreneur can justify the funds they’re asking for. Clients of mine who show a legitimate need for capital, I’ll give them the go-ahead, however as a neutral adviser, I usually have my clients focus on a prototype when starting out. After that’s complete then we’ll discuss the next options – including crowdfunding.

http://www.buildyourownwebstore.com/ Jacco Blankenspoor

I believe that with Ghost it mostly benefited from the increased engagement and excitement for the product. Most of it’s investors have become promoters as well, which is even more valuable than “just” money :-)

Alf-Bjørnar Dagsvold

I am currently running a campaign on Indiegogo. This is a Project for 3D interactive clothes. At the moment it is not goign too well, but we have learned a lot from this campaign and will re-launch soon after this ends June 11. I have an investor who is going to put in about half of what I need ($100 000) but I dont want to do it on a flexible funding campaign (as it is now).
There are other changes we are going to do as well for Our Next campaign, like narrow Down Our audience and target blogs where these are active (small clothing designers, clothing brands and People interested in these).
Would it help if Our campaign Reach 50% almost immidiately after launch, or does it not matter? I believe we will get credibility and perhaps attention when People believe we will be funded. What do you think?

Vince

Hi. Why would you not do a flexible funding campaign? Thanks!

Vince

We are looking to launch a campaign for our “NSA proof” messenger (Places by Ansamb). Think of it as Skype+Dropbox but totally secure (end-to-end encryption) and private (zero-knowledge). Would love to have your advice on which crowdfunding platform you would recommend, as well as the rewards. Thank you all!